The Limited closes all retail stores

FILE - In this Aug. 14, 2006 file photo, shoppers walk by The Limited store in San Jose, Calif. More grim news for malls as women's apparel designer and retailer The Limited says it will close all its brick-and-mortar stores at the end of this weekend. The New Albany, Ohio company says it will continue to operate online only after the Jan. 8, 2017 closures. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

By
Patrick McMahon

The Limited has closed all stores in the country as it struggles with accumulating debt and falling sales, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The company made the announcement of the closures Saturday but said the demise of the retailer's physical presence "isn't goodbye."

In total, the company, which once operated more than 750 stores across the country, will close 250 stores.

The retailer will continue to offer online sales.

The New Albany, Ohio, company announced plans to begin laying off employees in December. According to Fortune, 4,000 jobs were cut.

Limited Brands, which once owned Lane Bryant, Abercrombie & Fitch, Express, Limited Too and Bath & Body Works stores, was bought out in full by Sun Capital Partners Inc. in 2010.

The Limited is looking at restructuring, a sale or closing outright. In December, interim chief executive John Buell resigned to accept a management position at another women's brand, Altar'd State. He had been at The Limited only a month, replacing Diane Ellis, who stepped down in October 2016 after three years.

A letter to employees from chief financial officer Larry Fultz obtained by WSJ said the company will need to be sold or closed entirely. He wrote that the company was in the process of reviewing bids from interested buyers and was "hopeful" that it would stay open.

The company's most recent Facebook post was an apology for a delay in shipping after a high volume of sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Some orders were delivered more than two weeks late. The company wrote:

"This is not the kind of service we planned to deliver, and we sincerely apologize. Please know that you are our top priority, and we are working diligently to ship orders out as fast as we can. Thank you for your continued patience."